At-home yoga reduces anxiety, improves short-term memory

 

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At-home yoga reduces anxiety, improves short-term memory

At-home yoga reduces anxiety, improves short-term memory. Sean Mullen, an associate professor in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, is on a mission to encourage more adults to embrace the practice of yoga flow. Mullen involved a collaboration with researchers Madhura Phansikar, Neha Gothe, and Rosalba Hernandez from the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

Their collective effort resulted in the development of a virtual eight-week moderate-intensity yoga program tailored for full-time working adults who were dealing with symptoms of stress. The program was designed with the aim of providing effective stress relief and promoting well-being among this specific population.

The trial, published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, involved guiding participants through three self-paced remote workouts per week. The study evaluated levels of stress, anxiety, and executive functioning among the participants. The findings revealed notable reductions in overall stress and anxiety levels following the completion of the eight-week yoga program. This suggests that the program had a positive impact on participants. Mental well-being, contributing to decreased levels of stress and anxiety.

Compared yoga to aerobic exercise

Mullen highlights that existing literature has previously compared yoga to aerobic exercise. It has long been recognized that aerobic exercise offers benefits for the brain. However, their research delves into the effects of complex movements involved in yoga. Rather than focusing on straightforward activities like cycling or walking. Their study explores multi-planar movements that necessitate a different way of navigating and being mindful of movement, technique, and breathing. By examining these aspects, they aim to shed light on the unique cognitive and neurological impacts of yoga compared to traditional aerobic exercise.

The researchers introduced the sun salutation. A series of yoga poses that symbolically represents the rising and setting of the sun. Self-paced instructional videos were provided to guide participants through the sun salutations within the convenience of their homes. As the program progressed, participants were encouraged to gradually become more self-sufficient by independently performing the exercises.

Mullen emphasizes their philosophy of enhancing participants' confidence in their chosen exercise, beginning with a slow and incremental approach. The researchers aimed to investigate whether learning new sequences of yoga poses, akin to the cognitive benefits of learning a new dance, could potentially enhance working memory.

According to Mullen, the inclusion of multiple dynamic postures in the yoga flow, rather than static holds, is expected to enhance attentional abilities and inhibition control. The continuous movement and transitions in the yoga flow have the potential to improve spatial memory as well. The researchers note that the observed benefits to executive functioning align with existing literature on the subject. These findings support the notion that engaging in a yoga flow practice can have positive effects on cognitive functions and reinforce the existing body of research in this area.